Lisa's Homemaking Corner

Saturday, September 20, 2008

I thought I’d post the recipes we have tried from Mexico that we liked…well, actually, we have liked all of them so far!
The first thing we had this week was Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder (click link for recipe). This was an instant hit with myself and hubby. I don’t think it really knocked Vincent’s socks off, but he ate it anyways…he’s not really a big soup person. And Andrew (aka Moose), in typical Andrew-fashion, took a few bites and said "All done!" I’m not really sure how that kid is continuing to gain weight.
The same night we had the Corn Chowder, I was browsing some of my favorite blogs, and saw a recipe for enchiladas posted by Pioneer Woman. They looked really yummy, and not too difficult, so I said, "We’re having those tomorrow!" and we did. These were a huge hit with *everyone.* That recipe is definitely going into the family cookbook!
I had some leftover meat mixture and sauce from the enchiladas, so I mixed those together with some shredded cheese. For the next day’s meal, I cooked up some pinto beans and some rice. We used the leftover enchilada meat and sauce mixture with those to make our own burritos.
Last night, I made Chicken Lime Soft Tacos, and those were another hit! For desert, I made Mexican Wedding Cakes (which we make for Christmas every year, anyways, but it was fun!) Leftovers are practically non-existent in the house this week, and those that are here, don’t stick around very long. I am so pleased with how this has been going!
Here’s a recipe we had for breakfast yesterday (very yummy!).Chilaquilles
6 small corn tortillas
1 small onion, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (I left this out, though, not too many bell pepper fans here)
6 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper (I only used 1/2 tsp)
2 T vegetable oil
1. Stack tortillas and use a pizza cutter to cut them into bite-sized pieces.
2. Break all the eggs into a bowl and add the salt and pepper. Use a fork or whisk to beat the eggs until they are frothy. Set aside.
3. Put half the oil into a frying pan and put on stove on medium heat. When oil is hot, add the onions and tortillas. Cook and stir until both are slightly browned. Add the remaining oil and raise the temp to med-high. When the oil is hot, add the peppers. Wait a minute and add the tomatoes.
4. Stir and cook until the veggies are soft and the tortillas are light golden brown and crispy. Add the egg mixture and continue stirring until the eggs are cooked. Serve right away.
Tonight I plan on making Tortilla Soup (will post the recipe later if it turns out good). Next week, I am planning on plain old beef tacos, beef carnitas, King Ranch Chicken Casserole, Jamaican Jerk Chicken, and Pelau (from Trinidad and Tobago). I also want to make Mexican Hot Chocolate, Guacamole, Pico de Gallo, and Tres Leches Cake.
I love to cook, and this is so fun, learning new recipes! This will be an interesting school year, for sure!

Sorry I haven’t updated in awhile! Between school starting and adjusting schedules with that and Isaac, we’ve been too busy for me to mess with uploading photos. LOL! So this is kind of a catch-up post.
Weeks 1 and 2 we learned all about maps and globes. Latitude and longitude. Different kinds of maps, how to read maps, what kind of info maps can tell us. We peeled an orange and tried to flatten the peel to see why flat maps are so distorted. We also memorized the names and locations of the continents and oceans. At the end of the 2nd week, we made this cake.
We also re-visited John 3:16, and colored some sheets that had it in different languages. We learned that we were going to be studying and praying for different cultures and people groups around the world. We would also learn about various missionaries and Christian heroes. Vincent made a chain paper doll, and Andrew made a chain of hearts.
We started weeks 3 and 4 off right here in the USA. At the end of the 3rd week, this proud mama gave Vincent a blank map and and alphabetical list of the states, and he placed each one correctly without any help! I was just beaming with that one, as I thought he would balk at it. We learned an Omaha Indian song and sang the Eentsy Weentsy Spider. We started reading the book of Matthew in the bible (Matthew is the focus this year…the Great Commission and all that). We also started reading a missionary biography about Cameron Townsend and his missions in Mexico and Central America. Very interesting reading. We are learning about desserts for science, and we made Navajo sand paintings. Here’s Vincent’s:
We just bought colored sand from Walmart and painted glue in a design, and sprinkled away! Beautiful!
Oh, and I colored in on a map all the states we have been through/to.
Still have quite a few to get to, don’t we?
We just finished week 5. Weeks 5 and 6 are Mexico. We are still in the dessert for science. All week long, I have been having fun learning new Mexican recipes to try, and we have all been having fun eating them! I will continue next week, although I will probably add some Carribean stuff, too. We have been playing a game to help us learn all the countries in North America, as well as the major islands in the Carribean. We’ve only played it twice and Vincent’s already bored because he already knows all the countries. We’ve learned some Spanish expressions, and we’ve learned a little about the Mexican culture and people. We’ve especially gleaned a lot by reading about Cameron Townsend. We will learn more about Mexico next week, and then we will "fly" to Canada. (Yes, Vincent even has a passport!) Oh, yeah, Vincent’s been learning his cursive this year, too.
And here’s a couple silly shots. Andrew’s learning to be goofy. LOL!
And Isaac learned to smile!!!
Okay, that is a *really* cute last picture to leave y’all with! This was a really long-winded post (whew!), and I’m really really going to try to keep current here!

About Me

*Princess (a daughter of the King of Kings, to be exact)
*Corrections AND Fire Wife (I guess that makes me a Queen, too)
*Homeschooling Mama
*MS Survivor extraordinaire
*Avid reader
*Excellent cook and baker (oh, when I have a recipe)
*Pegasister, because of my 2 Bronies :-)